Eyeing Up The Storm

 Pro-active Leadership for Pandemic Trauma 

The world-renowned psychiatrist and trauma expert, Dr Bessel Van Der Kolk, a few years ago asked the audience during a lecture what they noticed about an image of the burning twin towers in New York. The image was of Manhattan city dwellers reacting to the attack on the buildings behind them. 

What Dr Van Der Kolk wished to highlight was that despite the location of the danger, each city resident was running in separate and different directions. They were all running home. Running to their families and spaces of individual security. 

Over the last year, the global pandemic has seen most people and businesses literally shelter in the same place of safety - home. Articles aimed at highlighting the prolonged psychological impact of the pandemic are beginning to fly; as are new click-bait conditions such as ‘re-entry anxiety’. For those in charge, a key part of the ‘back to business’ puzzle might be to understand that the world in many respects has been traumatised by the ongoing uncertainty and vortex of fear that has engulfed so many of us. 

After any crisis or disaster, it is very usual to have a period of debrief. To ask each other ‘What has this been like for you?’ and ‘How has this made you feel?’. A person’s experiences will remain unprocessed, potentially in a harmful way, until the opportunity for the experience to be expressed arrives. Right now, leaders, HR departments and business owners have an opportunity to start asking the right questions, take pro-active, person-centred action and avoid the pitfall of blind-eying what may really lurk beneath. 

As weeks moved into months and now we approach a much unwanted anniversary, the impact of the lockdown scenario has become a temporary ‘normal’ for many. In the first instance, both nationally and globally, we received mixed messages from those we entrust to make the important decisions on our behalf. It seems that the more open line of messaging was to ensure we take precautions, be sensible but ‘stay safe’ and calm, whilst the unconscious narrative being played out was that we ought to, at least metaphorically, run for the hills. 

As time has passed, and despite the traumatic and harrowing amount of suffering many families have had to ordeal, for the most of society we have become more grounded in the knowledge that the world keeps turning and most of us are still here to fight another day. People are beginning to emerge from the trenches. Some with extreme caution but others with a sense of gusto, eager to run into no-man’s land, raring to be set free. 

Covid-19 has fragmented many sections of society. From families to classrooms, the workplace and sports clubs. We hear mutterings of this being the ‘new normal’ but how do we know? Who gets to decide? Many love the idea of a flexible working arrangement between home and the office, yet others are chomping at the bit to get back to the office and the land of the familiar. 

We’ll soon find out if football can ever be the same without the fans or if there’s any point in a Starbucks if our coffee is accompanied by yellow and black hazard tape or the scenery is forever a carpark. What is for certain is that the fragmentation Covid-19 has caused needs time to heal. The wounds may not be fully visible yet as this type of fragmentation can ripple throughout every aspect of a system whose deeper vibrations might not be felt for some time. As with any trauma, it’s nearly always the calm time after the intensity of the incident where the toxicity is discharged. Perhaps with many months in between.

For some going to work is simply a job. A way of making ends meet, month in month out. But for many a job is much, much more. Being at work is a part of who we are and a symbolic representation of our identity. What might happen perhaps, if the honeymoon period of flexi-home working wares off and we become tired of mixing our chrome book with our cornflakes? How productive and purposeful might we feel if we never have the need to remove our slippers?  A part of a meaningful life is to find purpose and for many this purpose resides in climbing the hierarchy of competence within a group. We often like to sense that we belong to a group on an inter-personal level. We may wish for our growth to be witnessed and acknowledged.  We literally, neurologically speaking, thrive from being in close physiological connection to one another. We learn in this way and we regulate each other’s mood and well-being. 

As leaders, bold enough to rise to the challenge of post-Covid working as the anointed ‘tribal elders’, we are faced with fresh challenges that our previous experiences haven’t encountered. We may have just about steered our group through the choppy waters of uncertainty but at a deep level we know our crew members have been affected by the struggle. May it be of utmost importance to ensure the system, both individually and as a group are given the opportunity to be heard? To feel-felt? To feel that the individual internal experience is to be held in mind and with value? 

Some key questions leaders could be asking:

·       How can leaders promote a sense of safe-guarding and prevent re-traumatisation from the system itself?  How can employers create a ‘place of psychological safety’? 

·       How can business get up to speed on what’s going on for the people they need to protect by enhancing and supporting their emotional well-being? 

·       How can leaders prevent burying the trauma for employees and indeed themselves?

·       What do we need to put in place to help increase awareness of emotional and psychological difficulties within our system?

·       What are we modelling as leaders? Are we asking - how has this been for you? Or ‘What do you/we need in order to feel okay? If not, what may we be communicating instead? 

David Stimson is an Executive Coach, registered Therapist and Co-Founder/Director of both Bennu Consulting and Child & Adult Therapy Solutions (CATS) based in Stockton On Tees.